West Islip Graduates Still Finding Success on the Diamond

To think that Stony Brook has become an athletic power is certainly a shocker to many. After conference titles in football, soccer, cross-country and lacrosse and a bid to play in the NIT in men's basketball, the Seawolves' recent America East baseball championship is just another in a long list of impressive athletic accomplishments for the state school.

The team has two West Islip High School alums in catcher Pat Cantwell and pitcher/infielder Nick Tropeano. 

Cantwell and Tropeano, both sophomores, were co-captains in 2008 of the West Islip Lions team that finished with a 23-5 record and the Suffolk Class AA championship.

Fourth-seeded Stony Brook clinched the conference title with a 4-2 win over Albany last Friday and lost to top-seeded Coastal Carolina in the first round of the tournament Friday, June 4. It's a four-team double-elimination regional. However, the Seawolves defeated North Carolina State on Saturday 6-2 to keep their season alive.

The university is making its third appearance in the NCAA Division I tournament since jumping to that level in 2000. The Seawolves have never won a game in the tournament until Saturday.

At the 2008 Tempe Regional, Stony Brook fell to No. 1 Arizona State in the opener, 9-7, before being eliminated by No. 2 Vanderbilt, 9-4. At the 2004 Kinston Regional, SBU fell to East Carolina, 8-2, in the opener. The Seawolves were then edged by No. 2 Tennessee, 1-0.